Sheriff defends jail phone rates

1:53 AM,
Nov. 19, 2012

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OPELOUSAS -- Family members of inmates held in local jails and state prisons, as well as social justice groups that offer aid to inmates, went away disappointed last week from a Public Service Commission meeting where they urged commissioners to reduce the cost of phoning inmates.

Most prisoners in the state, including those kept in the St. Landry Parish Jail, pay about 15 times more to make a phone call than people on the outside.

PSC Chairman Foster Campbell had been trying to impose new regulations on prison phones and set a base rate to be used in all parish jails and state prisons. ...